On 4 January 1929 a front-page caricature in the liberal literary magazine Literarische Welt satirized the "Vorarbeiten einiger Prominenter" (preliminary work of some prominent people): Thomas Mann, Emil Ludwig, Jakob Wassermann, and Vicki Baum. Baum was shown gazing resolutely at an abacus, her picture captioned: "Vicky [sic] Baum beschäftigt sich mit Relativitätstheorie für ihren neuen Ullsteinroman" (Vicky Baum occupies herself with the theory of relativity for her new Ullstein novel). On 8 September of that year the advertising section of the enormously popular Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung featured a half-page testimonial by Baum on the excellence of Alpina watches. From the widely varying audiences targeted by these two periodicals, the name Vicki Baum was sure to elicit the same response: she was a star, a recognizable personality associated with financial success who rose to fame in late Weimar Germany, then went on to international stardom of...